A colleague at work took over and paid for a parcel addressed to her. But she hadn’t ordered it. It cost her CZK 1,200. Should she have refused to pay her colleague who paid at delivery? With Christmas approaching, this could happen to any of us in the bunch of parcels containing Christmas goods. But it doesn’t have to… How to deal with these situations?

A consumer from the Central Bohemian Region wrote to the European Consumer Centre (ECC) that she was returning a sweatshirt that we had allegedly sent her, even though she hadn’t ordered it. She requested a refund of CZK 1,200, which her colleague had paid when taking over the package while she was not at work.

The shipment did not include an invoice with the sender’s details, so she searched the internet to find out who could have sent her the package and to whom she should return it. She found a mention of the ECC and got the impression that we were the ones who had obtained her personal data, including the address of her employer’s headquarters, where she usually has goods ordered online delivered.

We explained to her that ECC is not a seller but an institution that helps consumers, and that we cannot hold a product that is her property. She had no one to return it to, and ECC had no one to start an out-of-court settlement with. So she decided to offer the poor-quality, unattractive sweatshirt to someone in her family, as it might come in handy in the fall, for example, when collecting nuts.

Before Christmas, people receive a lot of parcels, and when they are not at home, relatives or colleagues take them on their behalf. With so many parcels, it is easy to take and pay for an unsolicited parcel without noticing, and that is what fraudsters count on.

What can be done about this? When expecting a delivery, it is a good idea to inform our colleagues or family. If there are no instructions for taking over the delivery, it is advisable not to accept the parcel and to have it stored at the carrier’s delivery point, where the recipient can pick it up directly. Alternatively, it is a good idea to call our relative at that moment and ask whether they ordered the item or not.

Delivery staff are usually in a hurry, so people in the vicinity of the addressees are willling not to delay them, but this can have financial implications — moreover, there is often nowhere to turn to for a refund. There is no invoice or any information about the seller.

Sometimes people send goods to the address on the label. However, these are usually the addresses of logistics warehouses from which the packages are only shipped, and are not the addresses of the sellers.

If the goods just “land” in your mailbox and are not cash on delivery, you don’t have to worry about them. It is up to the seller to pick them up if necessary. You do not have to pay for them, even if a payment request is enclosed, for example in the form of a payment slip. Such cases also frequently involve unsolicited medical devices sent from Poland. Some consumers send the goods back when the seller’s address is provided and pay considerable amounts for this, which they may not get back unless they go to court.

The simple advice that everyone should follow is: Never pay for something you did not order. The seller must prove that you ordered the goods and that a contract was therefore concluded.